Customer Reviews

The North of God (The Contemporary Art of the Novella)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a Yiddish story within a Holocaust story. It is told on the train to "the end of the line," where mothers and children (i.e., the future) are doomed. Interestingly, while the frame story is historical, it's the embedded story--impossible and outrageous--that can continue past it. I think Stern's saying that the Yiddish imagination will survive and evolve beyond the dead Jewish Europe. And, just as the biblical prophet Elijah never dies, pops into people's lives and will herald the Messiah, the Elijah character here is, likewise, indestructible, mischievous and ultimately, redemptive.
Or maybe not. What do I know? Just read the book. It's stunning.

I am afraid that it will be too hard for me to write a meaningful review of this book. All I can say is this book is one of the most finely crafted books I have read in quite a while, without being overwritten. It is difficult to summarize this book - part fable, part holocaust story, with very real and poignant characters. I couldn't put it down and was sorry when I finished.

I enjoyed "The North of God" a fair bit--it wasn't too long, it wasn't too short, the style was fun and breezy, and Steve Stern has a gift for creating mood and place. So why only three stars? Well, about 2/3 of the way through, the story started to fall apart for me, and it ultimately left me unsatisfied. But still, I'm glad I read it and plan to read more by the same author. I've already bought the kindle edition of "The Frozen Rabbi." I would've probably given it 3 1/2 stars but didn't feel like I wanted to give it 4.

One other nitpicky little complaint: I found mistakes in the use of Yiddish in the text. (e.g., on the bottom of page 63, one of the main characters says "Ich Heyst, my name . . . is Velvl." It should be "Ich hayss . . ." The -st ending goes with the `du' form not the `ich' form--basic stuff.) Given the subject matter, they really should have caught this sort of error somewhere in the editorial process.

Steve Stern has produced another wonderful multi-layered work of art. It is painfully poignant and rich in imagination.